Ever Ever After
by WritelkeUmeanit
Summary: Epilogue to One Way Ticket. LL


**One Way Ticket** :** Epilogue : Ever Ever After**

**Quick Background for those who haven't read** _One Way Ticket _

**It took place in the fifth season , during,** _Blame Booze and Melville_,** only Lorelai's little pregnancy scare wasn't just a scare. She found out she was a pregnant. Of course she was nervous to even take the test and before she did she was avoiding Luke because she didn't want him to see something was wrong, because she didn't want to deal with the issue herself yet.**

**Then she gets the offer from Mike Armstrong to work in Paris, getting a new hotel up and running before she would consult for them. Lorelai was so upset and so convinced she would either lose Luke or her would marry her just because of the baby and it was like Christopher all over again. **

**So she takes the job, but than just couldn't get on that plane and Luke confesses that he had plans to propose, he wanted to buy the twickam house and so she accepts his proposal, becoming an engaged woman. **

**This picks up five years later and just wraps things up. **

**Now if you want the full effect, lol, read** _One Way Ticket,_** first, but it's not needed.**

**Enjoy the Story!!**

_(Five years later)_

"Gracie! Get your cute little but down here!" Lorelai yelled from the landing of the staircase.

"I'm coming!" The five year old called back, busy with her shoes that she were still trying to tie.

"... crossing the river, two little bunnies go hopping by... through the woods they go side by side... their ears go up and they come together as tight as can be... they look like a little bow, like the ones for me." She sang what her mother taught her.

"Gracie! Come on!" Lorelai whined from the first floor, wanting to leave to take her to school. It was her last day of preschool and every first and last day she had, of anything; her summer play group, t-ball team, soccer team, things like that, Lorelai would take her to Weston's for a special girls only breakfast.

"You almost done pal?" Luke asked, popping his head in his daughter's room.

"I can't do it." She huffed, letting go of the laces and folding her arms over her chest in annoyance. Her face scrunched up in anger as she glared down at her shoes. She had gotten to the end of the song and was almost there, but she pulled the knot too hard and the laces came apart.

Luke smiled, walking further into the room and coming to a stop in front of Gracie. He bent down and put his hands over her feet.

"You remember the song mommy taught you yesterday?" She nodded, not lifting her head.

"Okay, as long as you remember the song, you can do it. Come on, try again." He urged.

"I can't do it. I already tried." She said stubbornly, not wanting to fail again.

"Yes you can and if you don't try again, you won't be able to tie your shoes, then you'll have to walk around barefoot. Is that what you want? Walking around with no shoes? You're gonna hurt your feet."

"I can wear sandals." She argued.

"In the winter? When it's cold outside? Your feet you'll turn blue and fall off."

"No they won't!" Gracie laughed, finally looking up to meet Luke's eyes, and he smiled, loving to see that grin on her face. It was her mother's grin.

"Yes they will, you'll get hypothermia and they'll fall off. Then you won't be able to walk anymore."

"What's hypo..mia." Luke laughed.

"Hypothermia." He repeated slowly and clearly. "It's when you get really cold and your hands and feet turn blue because there's no blood flow." The young girl scrunched her eyebrows in confusion, looking down at her small hands as she held them out in front of her, flipping them back and forth to examine them.

"Is that why I have to wear gloves when I'm playing in the show?" She asked.

"Yes." He nodded.

"Gracccciiiieeeee." Lorelai yelled dramatically. "How long does it take you to get ready? Your dad is right; you're too much like me." Her voice getting closer with every word and by the time she was finished, she was standing in her daughter's doorway. "Speak of the devil." Lorelai grinned, looking down at her husband who was squatted on the floor. "So you're the one holding her up. Jealous of our mommy-daughter time?" She smirked as she walked further into the room.

"Daddy said if I don't learn how to tie my shoes, my feet will fall off."

"What?" Lorelai laughed, sitting down next to Gracie on her princess bed.

"He said that when it's cold I will get hy... hypi...h She stopped, looking toward her dad for help.

"Hypothermia." He filled in.

"Yeah, that." Lorelai smiled. "And they will turn blue because the cold took away all my blood!"

"Or something to that effect."

"Come on pal, try again." Luke whispered, nudging her side, then bringing his eyes back down to her feet.

Gracie took a deep breath, focusing back down at her shoes, the song playing in her head.

Both adults watched in silence as she started singing, her little hands grabbing both laces and taking her time to fold one over the other. Then she paused, taking a moment to remember the rest of the song and when the words came, she took that left lace, making a big loop out of it and doing the same with the right. She struggled a little trying to keep the first loop in tact while still making the other one and Lorelai held back, fighting the urge to just reach over and help her daughter, but she knew this was something Gracie had to do on her own.

"Daddy?" She called softly, looking up for help as she held the two loops.

"Sing the song." He told her. And she did, starting from the beginning again, then stopping when she came to the part she was stuck on. "It goes around right?" Luke nodded and she carefully tied one lace around the other, then slowly she pulled until she was left with two loops and a knot. Like a bow. "I did it!" Gracie exclaimed, launching forward and throwing her arms around Luke in excitement.

"Yeah pal, you did it." Luke said with a proud smile as he squeezed her. "Go tell your mom." He whispered. And she immediately turned around, jumping up on the bed to hug Lorelai.

"I did it mommy! I remembered the whole song and I did it!"

"I know, I'm so proud of you baby." Lorelai smiled, holding her daughter close.

"We can go eat now, come on! Hurry!" She yelled, the biggest smile on her face as she slid off the bed, quickly grabbing her backpack as she ran out of the room.

Lorelai laughed, slinging her purse back around her shoulder as she stood up.

"Mommy!" Gracie yelled when she hopped down the last stair and didn't see Lorelai behind her.

"Your mini me is calling you." Luke grinned, using the phrase Lorelai often used to describe her and their daughter.

"Later babe." Lorelai smiled, kissing Luke's cheek before leaving.

_Later... Preschool..._

"Mommmmyyy!" Gracie whined, struggling to break free from Lorelai's death grip. "I have to go to school!"

"Not yet." Lorelai frowned, pulling her daughter closer, if that were possible.

"Mommy, you have to let go of me. It's my last day of preschool and Cara is waiting for me. We get to take home our art projects today. I painted you and daddy, don't you wanna see it?"

"Yes." Lorelai nodded.

"Then you have to let go now so I can go to school."

"Okay..." Lorelai pouted, slowly releasing her hands that were tight around her little girl.

"I love you mommy." Gracie smiled before she kissed Lorelai's cheek.

"I love you too baby, so much." Tears brimming in Lorelai's eyes as she, again, wrapped her arms tight around Gracie to pull her close.

"Mommy." Gracie scolded in a very parental tone. "You have to be a big girl and let me go to school. It's only for a little while and then I'll be home."

"But this is your last day of preschool." The older Danes frowned. "You're growing up so fast."

"Yeah 'cause I'm a big girl!" She said proudly. "When I turned five, I became a big girl!"

"Ears babe." Lorelai winced, pulling her face back a little, but still holding her daughter.

"Sorry mommy." The girl giggled.

"Grace!" A boy shouted as he ran toward her and Lorelai.

"Hi Gino." She smiled, watching as her friend approached her.

"I got you something." He said, a big smile on his face as he fished through his bag, then after a moment of rummaging, he pulled something small out that was wrapped in pink paper. It was Gracie's favorite color, so he made sure his mommy used that to wrap it. "Here. Open it." The boy said, holding the gift out in front of her face. Lorelai smiled, pulling back enough so that Gracie could accept the gift.

Gracie smiled, curiosity covering her face as she carefully pulled the small card from the mystery gift.

There wasn't much written, only a few words and Gracie narrowed her eyes, bringing the card close to her face to try and read it.

After a moment, she sighed, holding out the card to Lorelai. She could only read a few words and she wasn't able to understand what was on the card.

"Mommy, can you read this?" She asked and Lorelai nodded.

_To Gracie,_

_Thank you so much for being my friend, I had a lot of fun playing with you this year and when I go away this summer I'm really going to miss you. I hope you like this gift I got you. _

_Love,_

_Eugene._

Lorelai finished, trying hard to hold back a laugh at the signature. It was obviously written by an adult, five year olds can't write well enough on their own for it to be from Gino... well Eugene. His mother, Kate, always called him Eugene. Lorelai was there to witness when be became known as Gino to his friends.

It was the first day of school and Gracie, being the vivacious little girl that she was, just went right up to him when she saw him sitting by himself, playing with playdoh. She introduced herself, asked him what his name was and he said it was Eugene and that he didn't like it either. He said his mom gave him a stupid name. Lorelai smiled at her daughter when Gracie explained that her mom gave her sister a nickname, Rory, and she asked him if he wanted a nick name too and the boy nodded, keeping his focus on the playdoh as he rolled it into a ball.

Gracie then asked him if she could play with him and he said, "What about my nickname?" And she said, "I'll think of one if you let me play with you." And the boy nodded, ripping some of the dough from his pile and handing it to Gracie, who smiled and starting rolling into a ball too.

At the end of the day, when Lorelai came back to pick Gracie up, the young girl came running to her, dragging this boy behind her. Lorelai smiled, asked who the boy was and she said. "This is Gino, his real name is Eugene, but I gave him a nickname like you did for Rory and he says it's a good name, right Gino?" She asked, looking toward the boy, and he nodded shyly at Lorelai.

Lorelai was glad to see that Gracie was making friends at school and from then on they were inseparable.

Lorelai smiled at the memory as she watched Gracie gently open the wrapping paper to revel a small brown teddy bear with a heart in his hands.

"A teddy bear!" Gracie exclaimed. "Look mommy! A teddy bear!"

"I see." Lorelai nodded, smiling at her daughter's excitement. "And look, it says best friends forever." She explained, pointing to the heart. Gracie's smiled just grew wider. And Lorelai looked behind her, mouthing thank you to Kate, who smiled back, saying it was no problem.

"Do you like it?" Gino asked cautiously. Gracie nodded vigorously, launching forward to hug him. "You're gonna be my best friend forever and ever." She whispered against his shoulder. Both adults smiled as they watched their children embrace.

"Gino has a girlfriend! Gino has a girlfriend!" Some boys yelled as they approached the school.

"No I don't!" He argued, immediately letting go of Gracie.

"You like girls! Ewww!"

"Stop it!" Gino insisted, scrunching his face up in anger as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Okay, that's enough." An adult finally came and led the two boys away.

"One day, they're gonna like girls too, then you'll be able to make fun of them." Lorelai said as both she and Kate went to comfort the boy.

"Can we go in now?" Gino asked impatiently, not wanting to be seen with a girl anymore. They were always teasing him for that. Kate nodded.

"Bye Lorelai." She waved at Gracie's mother. "Have a good day sweetie." She smiled at the younger Danes.

"Bye." Lorelai smiled back.

Once they were out of site, Gracie turned toward her mom, holding the bear tight to her chest as her eye s clouded with confusion.

"Gino is my friend, right mommy?" She asked.

"Right." Lorelai nodded.

"Then why does he always do that?"

"Do what honey?"

"He never wants to play with me when we're at school. Only when he comes over my house or you bring me to his house or we go to the park, but if any of the boys come, he doesn't wanna play with me anymore." Gracie pouted.

Lorelai smiled at her little girl. This was typical five year old boy behavior.

"He just doesn't want to get made fun of honey. Most of the boys your age think girls have koodies. They don't like playing with girls yet, but Gino likes playing with you, so they tease him. It has nothing to do with you baby, just that you're a girl." Lorelai smiled.

"But I don't have koodies! Those boys have koodies!" She insisted. "But not Gino, he doesn't." She shook her head.

"I know." Lorelai laughed. "And unfortunately, the boys think you do, but don't worry, in ten years they'll be begging you to play with them and your dad will be stalking every one of them with a gun in one hand and a shovel in the other, making sure they don't get too close." Lorelai smiled and the young girl laughed, the sounds dying down as she looked at her teddy bear.

"Does Gino love me mommy? Like daddy loves you?"

"Well I can't be a hundred percent sure, but I think he does. I think he does love you." Lorelai smiled, poking the teddy bear that she was holding.

"Does daddy kiss you? Or do you kiss daddy?" She asked, looking at her mom as she scrunched her eyebrows in confusion, trying to understand what she was or wasn't suppose to do.

"Well, it's both honey. Sometimes I kiss him and sometimes he kisses me." Gracie nodded, processing the information.

"So I can kiss Gino?" She asked.

"If you want to, sweetie." Gracie ducked her head for a moment, thinking about what would happen if she kissed Gino. She imagined the boys would probably laugh and make fun of him even more, than he wouldn't ever wanna play with her again.

"Can we go in now?"

"Yes we can." Lorelai nodded, letting her eyes rest on Gracie for a minute before standing up.

"Here." She said, holding out the teddy bear for Lorelai to take.

"You don't want to take this with you?"

Gracie shook her head. "I don't want them to laugh at Gino."

"Okay baby, I'll take it home with me and you can play with it later."

The little girl nodded, taking her mom's hand who then led her to the classroom.

_Diner..._

"Hey hubby." Lorelai grinned, teddy bear in hand as she walked through the diner.

"What is that?" Luke asked as he passed her on his way to give a customer their breakfast.

"This is a teddy bear." She said matter-of- factly.

Luke sighed. Not even a minute and he was already exhausted. "I know _what_ it is, but what I don't know is where it came from."

"Well," Lorelai smirked. "It seems that our daughter has a boyfriend."

"Lorelai, she's five."

"You remember Gino? The _five_ year old who always follows Gracie around like he's a dog and she's got the Scooby snacks?" Luke nodded. "Well he gave her this teddy bear today, you should see the card, it's adorable." Lorelai explained, holding up the bear so he could see it.

Luke scrunched his eyebrows, taking the bear with confusion. "Why'd he give this to her?"

"Because it's their last day of preschool and the poor kid has a crush on Gracie."

Luke shook his head, not even ready to go near that possibility yet. "He's a five year old Lorelai, he doesn't like girls yet, definitely not like that and if he knows what's good for him, he won't like Gracie in the future either."

Lorelai laughed at her husband. Poor guy. Gracie would drive him crazy when she got older, that Lorelai was sure of.

"Well he may be five, but like it or not, he's got a thing for your daughter and you know what I realized?"

"What?"

"They've got the name thing."

"The what?" He asked, confused.

"Like you and me, Luke and Lorelai, the L's. Gracie and Gino, same first letter like us. Who knows, maybe their destined to be together. Maybe they'll have a happily ever after together, like we did." Lorelai smiled.

"He touches her, he's dead. I don't care if he's five." Luke warned, before turning around to go to the kitchen. Lorelai smiled. Gracie's teenage years were going to be interesting.

_Later... Dragonfly Inn..._

"Ah, there's my Mr. Fix man." Lorelai grinned when she saw Luke and Bert come through the lobby.

"I got ten minutes, what do you need?"

"My office." She smiled, leading him past her desk and toward the door that led to her office.

Once they were both in, Lorelai closed the door behind them, and then she pointed to her desk chair, explaining that the back was broken and Luke quickly went to work, kneeling in front of the chair to open his tool box and figure out what he would need.

"So tonight," Lorelai prodded after a moment of silence.

"What about it?" Luke asked distractedly as he worked on the chair.

"It's our anniversary." She smiled.

"Five years." Luke filled in.

"We got married five years ago." Lorelai awed at the time that's passed. gI still can't believe we put a wedding together in three months."

"You said you wanted to walk down the aisle before you got fat." Luke grinned, repeating her words.

"And that dress may have been a little tight, but I looked damn good in it." She smirked as her legs gently swung back and forth from where she sat on the desk.

"Hand me the screwdriver." Luke said, holding his arm out behind him.

"Which one?"

"Flat head." Lorelai nodded, reaching in his tool box that sat next to her, then once she found it, handing him the tool he wanted.

There was silence for a few minutes. Lorelai sat watching Luke with little interest as her mind went to a place of its own. A place it often went to when she found herself day dreaming.

Their wedding was beautiful; despite the minor set back when her parents found out she was pregnant. They assumed that was the reason for the speedy wedding and they starting asking why, if she would marry Luke, a blue collar diner owner, for that reason, then why not Christopher, a well brought up young man who came from good breeding. Blah Blah Blah.

None of that mattered to her and Luke knew that, that was what was important.

Then, after that little mishap was settled, after Lorelai spent almost twenty minutes trying to assure her parents that the baby wasn't the reason for the wedding, just a sooner wedding, things went smoothly from there.

Of course Emily kept asking her questions. _"Are you sure this is what you want? Do you honesty love him? Do you know what you're getting into? etc, etc, etc."_

Lorelai knew the only reason Emily asked any of those questions was that she wasn't too fond of Luke, but even so, Lorelai answered every question with a definite yes, showing no hesitation as she answered.

After some time, Emily stopped her questions and Lorelai saw that, as the wedding went on, both her parents seemed to relax and actually managed to have fun.

The wedding may not have been some over the top event that cost half a million dollars, but she thought it was perfect, absolutely perfect.

Everyone that mattered most to Lorelai and Luke were there, celebrating the special day with the happy couple.

It did bother Lorelai, and of course Luke, that his parents couldn't be there. She really hated that. She never got to meet William or Avery but she knew, from what Luke and the town has said about them, that she would have loved them and she was pretty confident that they would have loved her too.

Still, it was an amazing day. A day that they, along with everyone else in Stars Hollow, would remember forever. There was even a party, every year on their anniversary, in the square, like a festival. Their own little festival. Luke wasn't too fond of it, but Lorelai loved it and of course they went every year.

"How's it coming?" Lorelai asked after she came back from her thoughts.

"Almost done." He answered.

"Good." She nodded.

It only took Luke another couple of minutes before he stood up, announcing that he was finished.

"What time you get off tonight?" Luke asked, reaching to grab his tool box that sat next to Lorelai.

"Six." She answered.

"Be ready by seven, okay? We'll go to diner, then hit the square. I'm sure you wanna go to the party." He rolled his eyes, but gave her a smile.

"Thank you!" She smiled, hoping off the desk to hug him and Luke did his best to wrap his arms around her, trying not to hit her with the tool box that was in his hand. "You're the best husband ever." Lorelai gushed, pressing several kisses to his neck before she took her arms from his back and broke the hug.

"You coming by later?" Luke asked.

Lorelai nodded. "Have the coffee and burger ready for one." She smiled. Luke nodded, giving her a quick peck before he left.

_Later... Danes Home..._

Lorelai stood in front of her bathroom mirror, applying the finishing touches on her face for her date tonight with Luke. Her anniversary date. Her five month anniversary date.

Thinking about that made Lorelai smile as she put on some lip gloss. Clear with a shine, Luke's favorite. He didn't like it when she loaded her lips with some harsh color. He said it looked fake, he didn't like it. He wanted to be able to see her lips, see the color of her lips, how they naturally are. The clear gloss did that, just added that extra shine.

Once she finished with her make up, all that was left to do was get dressed.

She already knew what she was going to wear. It had to be something special, she knew that. There was only a five year anniversary once and she wanted to make it count. Make it memorable for them.

Luke would always compliment her on whatever she was wearing when they would go out, but there was one dress in particular that she could see from Luke's expression when he first saw her in it, that he loved the best.

It was, as the saying goes, her perfect little black dress. It hugged her curves, forming that hour glass shape, then flowing away from her body after her hips, coming to rest above her knees. It had thin straps with a V neck, not too low or too high, it showed enough cleavage for her and Luke's liking. It was the perfect medium and it was the perfect little black dress. She bought it a few months ago when she was out shopping with Rory. They were just wondering around the mall, not planning to buy or go anywhere specific, but when Lorelai saw it in the Sears window, she grabbed Rory's hand, pointing to the manikin, and they quickly ran in to get it.

Both girls loved it and she modeled it for Luke the next night when she came down the stairs ready to go to Friday night dinner.

When she saw Luke's expression, it reminded her of her wedding day when Luke's eyes were glued to her as she walked down the aisle.

Though of course it wasn't a wedding dress, it didn't compare, but she could see that Luke loved it and after that night, she put it in her closet, saving it for a special occasion, already planning to wear it for the second time on this night.

She was a little hesitant with wearing something that Luke had already seen on her, but she knew Luke loved it so she was confident in her choice to wear it. She did however buy new shoes. She couldn't resist the opportunity to buy new heels, no girl can.

The decision for the shoes were pretty simple.

Sometimes, when she and Luke and plans to go out, while she was getting done in the bathroom; fixing her hair, putting on makeup, etc, etc, while he was in the bedroom getting dressed and she didn't have anything picked out yet, she would ask him to go in her closet and grab a blouse for her to wear. She was testing him really, wanting to see if he would pick out something that first, took more than a second to pick and matched the pants, or skirt, whatever she was wearing and after some time, she noticed a reoccurring theme going on.

Blue.

He always picked something blue, and it was always a bright blue, like a metallic blue, or baby blue, something like that.

One day she asked him why he always picked blue. She had a bunch of other colors in her closet to choose from, pink, red, purple, white, black, yellow, etc etc._"Because it makes your eyes brighter, makes the blue stand out." _He answered with a shrug, not realizing that he did that all the time, just that he liked blue on her and Lorelai smiled, taking effort to make sure she included blue in her wardrobe as much as possible.

So of course, when she found metallic blue stiletto's in Macy's, she had to buy them. Finding they were on sale was just an added bonus.

After grabbing her perfect little black dress along with her new shoes, Lorelai laid them out on her bed, then undid her robe so she could change.

_A Bit Later..._

Lorelai was surprised at what the clock said when she was finished getting ready.

6:50, ten minutes before Luke was suppose to pick her up and he hadn't come home yet.

Lorelai knew he wasn't a big suit and tie kind of guy, but whenever they went out, Luke always dressed accordingly. Sometimes grumbling under his breath as he changed, but he always finished with a smile, for her sake, and Lorelai knew that. She knew Luke would do anything for her; she had him wrapped around her finger even before they were together. It was her world famous pout that was the golden ticket. And when she combined that with her hair flip and a great dress... Luke had no chance in hell and Lorelai would take advantage of that on many occasions.

Luke was a man, so of course his primping process didn't take nearly as long as Lorelai's did, but still, ten minutes was cutting it close.

Sighing, Lorelai sat down on the couch, her eyes on the clock as she lowered her body.

Another five minutes passed slowly. Time seemed to drag on as Lorelai kept her eyes glued on the numbers of her clock, watching as the hands slowly rounded and then when she saw that it was 6:55, and still no Luke, Lorelai immediately stood up, pulling the curtain aside to look out the window and she frowned when she didn't see Luke's truck in their driveway.

Luke was never late, _never_. He didn't forget things, especially things as important as this.

Thinking this, Lorelai started to panic, leaving the window to pick up the phone but before she was able to hit that last digit of Luke's cell number, she saw headlights come in through the window and heard a car coming up the drive.

Lorelai quickly put the phone back on the base and headed for the door.

Before she swung it open, she was fully ready to yell at Luke, ask him why he showed up so late. He was always rushing her when they needed to go out so they would leave on time and now, here he was, showing up four minutes before they had to leave.

"Luke, why are you-" Lorelai started when she opened the door, but stopped dead in her tracks, her mouth hanging open when she caught site of her husband coming up the stairs.

Luke smiled, coming up on the porch with a bouquet of flowers in his hands. Red roses, her favorite kind.

"Wow." Lorelai awed, sweeping her eyes over the suit he was wearing. "You look... hot." She finished, using the best word that came to mind to describe him. It was a simple black suit and tie but he just wore it so well.

"You look beautiful." Luke grinned, leaning toward her to kiss her cheek, letting his eyes linger for a moment on her wide V neck before he brought his gaze to hers. "These are for you." He said, holding out the flowers for her to take.

"Thank you." Lorelai smiled, still a little bit confused by him as she accept the flowers.

"You ready to go?" He asked gently after a moment of silence as she admired the flowers.

"I just need to put these in water." Luke nodded, turning to follow her back in the house.

Once she reached the kitchen, Lorelai opened the top cupboard, pulling out a clear glass vase, then filling it with water.

"They're so pretty." Lorelai smiled as she carefully dunked them in the vase of water.

Luke smiled, proud of himself as he came up behind her and wrapped his arm around her waist. "How am I doing so far?" Luke whispered before kissing right behind her ear.

Lorelai sighed contently, a smile on her face as she turned in his arms to wrap hers around his neck. "Well aside from the minor panic attack you gave before, you're doing great." She finished with a grin. "So how'd you get all GQ-d up without coming home first to change? You had me nervous, you were cutting it kinda close, then I thought something might have happened because I know you wouldn't forget about our anniversary, you're not that stupid." Lorelai smirked.

"I came home after lunch to pick this up so I could change at the diner. Thought I'd surprise you a little." Luke explained, brushing a curl from her face as he did.

"Well you are more of an actions-speak-louder-than-words, kinda man." Lorelai smiled, moving her arms to wrap them around his back so she could lay her head on his chest.

Luke held her tighter, smiling down at her as he kissed the top of her head.

"Lorelai?" He asked after a moment of silence.

"Hmm?" She answered, not looking up.

"It's past seven."

"Mhmm."

"You falling asleep on me?" Luke grinned, and Lorelai just shook her head against his chest, not wanting to let go of him. "We're gonna miss our reservation." He reminded her gently.

"You didn't make one."

"How do you know?" He challenged.

"Because we don't' need one for Sniffy's. We know the owners, remember?" She asked, lifting her head to grin at him.

"We're gonna miss the party." He tried.

"Let's go!" Lorelai said, quickly taking his hand as she spun on her heel. Luke laughed, following her out the door and to the car.

_Sniffy's..._

"Lorelai!" Buddy smiled, quickly giving a customer their plate on his way to greet Lorelai.

"Hey Buddy!" Lorelai grinned, watching as he sped up and when he got close enough, she held her arms out to hug him.

"How you holding up? Is Luke treating you okay?" The older man asked as he hugged Lorelai, a woman who, over the last five years, became like a daughter to he and Maisey.

"I have very few complaints."

"Anything I can do?" Buddy asked, pulling away from her.

"If you could find those big guys with the suits and all that money that run sports and convince them to cancel all those sports channels, that would be really great." Lorelai shrugged.

"Is he watching too much TV? Not helping out enough? You want me to fix him?"

"I'm standing right here!" Luke exclaimed.

"Buddy, what's taking you so long?.." All the heads turned at the woman's voice as she quickly came from the kitchen, her eyes going back and forth looking for Buddy.

"Sorry Maisey, we distracted him." Lorelai offered, and that caught the woman's attention that turned at the familiar voice.

"Lorelai!" The older woman cheered, a smile lighting her face as she approached them. "See Buddy, told ya they'd come, it's their anniversary." Maisey gloated, gesturing to the two as she hugged Lorelai. "Five years, right?" Maisy asked over Lorelai's shoulder, wanting to make sure she had the number right.

"Yeah, the big five."

"And how's Lucas been? Not cheating on you or anything? Cause if he is, don't you worry, Buddy knows how to get through to him."

"No, he's not cheating on me." Lorelai laughed as they parted. They did this all the time. Always making sure Luke was treating her good.

"I'm going to sit." Luke rolled his eyes. "Let me know when you're finished."

That just made Lorelai laugh even harder, and Maisey and Buddy joining in too as they watched Luke go.

"Now, how's Gracie doing? We haven't seen her in a couple of months. You kids don't come down here as often as you used to."

"Gracie's doing great. She actually had her last day of preschool today, we're all very excited."

"Her last day?" Maisy asked. "They have a graduation?"

"Yes!" Lorelai exclaimed, remembering that she had two tickets for Buddy and Maisey "And I know we don't come as much as we did." Lorelai winced, hating that they didn't. "Things have just gotten really hectic with the Inn and of course the tourists have to eat so the diner has been packed like crazy and Gracie's doing so many after school things and weekend things.. I'm sorry." She apologized sincerely, holding out the two tickets for her to take.

"Just make sure it doesn't happen anymore and we'll forgive you." Maisey smiled, taking the tickets as her and Buddy led her to the table Luke was sitting at.

"Smile a little Lucas, this is your anniversary." Maisey teased, taking the menus from the table as Lorelai sat down next to him.

"Yeah Lucas, smile a little." Lorelai grinned. Luke rolled his eyes.

"We'll be back with your food." Buddy smiled before he hurried off to the kitchen.

"And no funny business young man, this isn't a whore house anymore. These people don't wanna to see you touching your wife, you do that at home, in bed, not here." Maisey warned, pointing a finger at him before she walked away.

"It's good to be back." Lorelai laughed.

_A Bit Later..._

"Come on babe, try this." Lorelai said, holding out her fork with a piece of steak at the end.

"You know how much fat's on there?" Luke asked. Pointing to piece of steak that sat on her plate, right where the fat was, lining the end.

"Well I'm not giving you a fatty piece, I'm giving you this piece which is fat free." Lorelai smiled.

"It isn't fat free. Far from it." He grumbled before digging his fork in his salad.

"Come on Luke, please, just one piece." Lorelai begged, moving the fork closer to his mouth.

"You need some protein anyway, all you've had is salad, that isn't dinner."

"Compared to yours, no, but no one can compete with how much you got on your plate."

"Hey, I got all the necessary food groups covered here buddy. One of them being corn, which if I remember correctly is a vegetable-"

"-That you poured gravy all over. You can barely see the corn." Luke retorted.

"Just because you can't see it, doesn't mean it's not there." Lorelai quipped.

"And the fries-"

"- A good source of carbohydrates." Lorelai smiled. "Even you told me that some carbs are needed in a healthy diet."

"And you've been dipping 'em in honey mustard. That's like eating a greasy burger, it's doing nothing but clogging your arteries." Luke shook his head at the mess of her plate.

"Okay, fine." Lorelai sighed, looking over her to plate to try and find something even remotely healthy. Then her eyes lit up when she saw her glass. "Water! I'm drinking water! That's healthy! It cleans out your system and gets right of all the crap and.. stuff." Lorelai finished lamely, not really knowing the details of the benefits of water. " So ha!" She gloated. "And look at you! You're drinking beer! Beer isn't healthy! It has sugar and, um, it.. gets you drunk! You're not being very responsible Luke." Lorelai shook her head sadly at him. "Guess I'm the designated driver for the evening." She sang, looking at his cup in disappointment.

"Jeez." Luke shook her head at her dramatics.

_Later That Night.. Town Square..._

"Wow." Lorelai awed as she slid out of the car and caught site of the square. "It's so pretty. Look at all the lights."

Luke sighed. "It was the same last year, and the year before that, and the year before that..."

"And you always end up having fun, so let's skip the grumpiness and go right to the smiles." Lorelai said, grinning as she walked around to his side of the car.

Once she was within reaching distance, Luke took her hand, their fingers locking as he led them to the party.

"Mommy!" Their heads turned at the little voice and both smiled, Lorelai releasing Luke's hand as she bent down to catch her daughter who came running.

"Hey babe." Lorelai squeezed Gracie's little body, holding her tight. "Did you have fun with Rory?"

Gracie nodded enthusiastically, pulling back a little to look at her mom. "She took me to the fair and look what Jess got me!" She exclaimed, holding up the purple stuffed monkey that was in her hands.

"Wow." Lorelai awed. "Lucky you."

"Yeah," she nodded. "He won it when it hit _all _the bottles and Rory won too, but she had to try two times." Gracie explained, holding up to fingers to explain.

"What did Rory win?"

"She won a monkey too, but hers is blue because that's her favorite color and I got you purple mommy because that's your favorite color." She said, holding out the monkey for Lorelai to take.

"Thank you sweetie." Lorelai smiled, taking the stuffed animal. "But you don't have to give this to me, you should keep it."

Gracie shook her head. "No, itfs a present for your versery." Lorelai laughed. Sometimes Gracie still had problems with some of the big words.

"Well thank you." Lorelai said, picking up Gracie as she stood.

"Where's daddy?" The young girl asked after looking behind her mom.

"I don't know." Lorelai scrunched her eyebrows in confusion, darting her eyes around, looking for Luke. "Oh, there he is." She smiled, walking the short distance to where Luke stood, talking to Jess and Rory who were near the food tables.

"Hey mom." Rory smiled when she saw her mother and sister approaching.

"Hey," Lorelai smiled, kissing Rory's cheek. "Thanks for taking her. She said she had a lot of fun." Gracie nodded to show that she did.

"And I hear you won my daughter a monkey." Lorelai grinned at Jess.

He nodded. "I just knocked a few bottles down, no big deal." He shrugged.

"Lorelai!" Patty yelled over the music from across the square. "Come on! We wanna hear about your date!" She yelled excitedly, and the other woman nodded, waving her over to the tent they sat under.

"Coming!" Lorelai answered, putting Gracie back down on the floor. This was something they always did. At first, she would go off with the girls so they could get the dirt and for a little while, the square was split. The guys on one end, near the food tables, and the girls on the other side of the Gazebo, gathered around the tables so they could talk gossip. Then of course there was Kirk, who had some games and things set up in Miss Patty's and all the little kids played there for a while, going back and forth from the square to Patty's throughout the night.

"You wanna go play with Kirk honey?" Lorelai asked Gracie.

She nodded, her eyes moving to look at Patty's. "He said he found a new game for us to play! And Gino is gonna be there, and he said if Emmet and Aiden aren't there, he would be my partner!" She exclaimed, and Lorelai watched as her eyes sparkled at the thought.

"Go ahead babe, I'll watch you run. You don't wanna keep Gino waiting." Lorelai smiled. Gracie nodded, turning first to look at Luke.

"Bye daddy." The little girl said, moving the few steps until she was standing in front of him.

Luke looked down when he heard her voice, kneeling on the floor to talk to his daughter.

"You going to Patty's?" He asked. She nodded.

"Okay, your mom and I will come by to check on you later, okay?" She nodded, quickly kissing him on the cheek before she ran off.

"We'll be over there." Rory told Jess, pointing across the square. He nodded, before jumping back into the conversation he was having with Luke, Jackson and Andrew.

"Come on." Lorelai smiled, excited as she reached her hand back toward Rory and they hurried off to the other girls.

_A Bit Later..._

"Wow." Gypsy awed at the story Lorelai just told.

gThat man's got stamina!" Babette screeched.

"Don't I know it." Lorelai nodded. "I mean we're not exactly in our twenties anymore, and he's got no problem going triple rounds, _and _without hydrating, might I add." Lorelai grinned.

"Oh, you two are still kids." Babette waved off. Lorelai laughed. She didn't exactly feel that same way when she turned forty a couple of months ago. Then again, they said forty was the new 30.

"I wish Kirk would go that long." Lulu frowned. "But he's always afraid he'll hurt his back. His dad had bad back problems, and his grandfather. I always have to go on top." She shrugged.

"There's nothing wrong with being on top sweetie." Patty said as she lit another cigarette.

"Yeah, they really go crazy when you're on top." Lorelai nodded. "You're bobbing up and down and... things are bobbing up and down." She laughed as she finished, causing everyone else to laugh and the men who were gathered on the other side, sitting around the long table, turned their heads towards the sound.

"What do you think they're talking about?" Barry, Carrie's wife, asked. This was his first year coming, he didnft know the routine.

"Us." Luke said simply before taking a swig of his bear.

Barry sat up in his seat a bit, trying to get a better look at the woman, who were still laughing.

"Well then we should talk about them." The men stopped, their beer bottles halting in mid air as they brought their gaze to Barry.

Normally they would just talk about sports or work, things like that, while they drank beer and waited for the woman to finish, that's when things really got going. The food got uncovered, Patty would have her dancers come and perform, then others would join the floor, the D.J would kick up the music.. they never really thought to talk about the woman.

"What?" He asked, confused by the looks he was getting.

"Drink your beer." Luke said and Andrew quickly brought up baseball and the debate began once again.

_Later..._

"Where's Gracie?" Lorelai asked as her and Luke watched the dancers perform, Gracie being one of them. They were dressed as flowers, since it was spring, and doing a ballet sort of dance.

"First row, third one in." Luke said after spotting her which was a bit difficult because they all were dressed the same.

Lorelai smiled once she saw her daughter and nudged Luke to give her the camera. This was the first year Gracie was performing. She had joined Patty's dance class earlier in the year.

"Isn't she cute?" Lorelai cooed, holding the video camera high as her daughter danced. Luke nodded, smiling proudly at his little girl.

"Where is she?" Rory asked, running up to Luke and Lorelai with her digital camera in hand. Luke quickly pointed her out and watched as both girls filmed Gracie's performance.

The song lasted a couple of minutes and once it was over, everyone clapped and cheered as the girls filed out to go to their parents. Everyone of them smiling with pride at what they did.

"I did it! I did it!" Gracie cheered, as she ran toward her family.

"Good job pal." Luke smiled, picking up his daughter, bouncing her a little as he did.

"Come on children, it's story time." Patty announced, ushering the children toward the tent where, like every year, she would tell them the infamous story of Stars Hollow's very own lovebirds and the story of how they met, became friends, fell in love, did hit some bumps in the road, but then went on to get married and have a beautiful baby girl.

"Must she do that every year." Luke grumbled as he put Gracie back down.

"We're small town celebrities Luke, enjoy the attention now, before it fades and we're nothing but has- beens." Lorelai smiled.

"Can I go now?" Gracie asked.

"You hungry? You want to take some food with you?" The young girl nodded, and Lorelai walked the few steps behind her to grab her plate which had a hot dog and a few fries on it.

"Here you go babe." Lorelai said, handing her the plate and Gracie gave her mom the flower head piece she had to wear in exchange. "Go!" Lorelai playfully spanked Gracie's butt, who laughed as she ran toward the tent to hear the story that's she's heard since she was a baby.

"You still hungry?" Luke asked with a smile as he took her hand. Lorelai shook her head, watching as Gracie hurried into the tent, finding an open spot next to Gino, then plopping down next to him.

"Can we just.. walk around for a while." Lorelai asked, looking up at the sky to admire all the stars. Luke nodded and slowly they started to walk around the square.

".. so when Rory was about eleven, Luke opened the diner and of course the second Lorelai caught wind of it, she was there the morning it opened. Little Rory was at school, but I was there to witness it all, their first encounter." Patty said, building up the anticipation before she took another drag of her cigarette.

Lorelai smiled as she and Luke got closer to the tent, hearing their lives being told to the kids. It was a good story. She sat down with the kids the first year and listened to it.

"This is nice." Lorelai smiled, looking toward her husband who gave her a grin in return.

"I have something for you," Luke started, reaching in the inside pocket of his jacket to pull out a small rectangular present. "I wanted to give it to you now,, while we're still here. You love these things so much, so." He shrugged, gesturing toward the square.

"Luke, we usually exchange later, at home." Lorelai said, surprised that he was giving her her gift now.

"I know." He smiled. "And I have something for you at home too, but this is one.. just open it."

Lorelai smiled, her mouth forming a wide grin as she went to tare the paper open.

"A card?" Her eyebrows scrunched in confusion as she looked down at it. "Why did you wrap a card?"

"Open it." He whispered.

Lorelai nodded, reaching to hand him the empty box then she proceeded with the card.

"Plane tickets?" Those were what she found sitting in the envelope.

"Read the card." Again, Lorelai nodded, her fingers working quickly to free the card so she could figure out the mystery.

"Oh my God." She awed after seeing what it said. "Oh my God!" Lorelai screamed, bouncing up and down in excitement.

Patty stopped, and all the kids turned toward Luke and Lorelai who were a short distance away, when they heard the noise

"We're going to Hawaii!" She cheered. "I can't believe we're going to Hawaii!" Lorelai exclaimed, launching herself into his arms.

"The honey moon we never had." She whispered in aw against his shoulder. Luke nodded, his arms instantly wrapping around her back.

That's where they wanted to honeymoon.. well mainly Lorelai, but then, with the pregnancy, she couldn't travel on air planes during her first trimester, then she just felt too fat to be on the beach, so they ended up just going away for a weekend at a fancy hotel.

They planned to go the next year, but then health problems came up with Lorelai's dad and just something seemed to come up every year when Luke was trying to plan the trip.

Then last year, he started planning early, making sure they would be able to go for their anniversary this year, and he was so happy when he was able to make it happen.

"I can't believe you did this." Lorelai said, still shocked by the gift.

"Are you happy?" He asked softly.

"Ecstatic." She said firmly, pulling back a little bit to lock eyes with him

"Good." He nodded. "Than it was worth it."

"I love you, _so much._" Lorelai stressed before leaning forward, closing her eyes as their lips made contact, quickly moving together and Luke had to stop himself before things got to out of hand.

Gracie watched as her mom jumped up and down, then hugged her dad. She was happy about something, Gracie thought it might be the Hawaii trip her daddy was planning to take her mommy on. He said she would like it, and it looked like she did.

Then, she watched as her mom kissed her dad. It only lasted a few seconds before she ran off, yelling her sister's name as she did.

"Well, it looks like someone got their anniversary present a bit early." Patty grinned picking up where she left off with the story.

"Gracie, " She turned her head at the sound of Gino's voice. "The story." He said, reminding her to listen.

Before Gracie had a second thought about it, she closed her eyes, just like her mommy did every time, and kissed Gino, there's lips barely touching before she stopped and ran from the tent.

Luke watched as his daughter came running, seeing what had just happened. "Gracie?" He asked, confused at what he just saw.

"Is he looking at me?" She asked, stopping in front of him to catch her breath. Luke looked toward the tent where Gino sat starring at her, very confused by what Gracie just did.

"Yeah." Luke said absentmindedly, glaring at the five year old his daughter just kissed.

"Yes!" Gracie grinned before she took off again, running toward her mom

Luke shook his head, quickly following after his daughter.

It was gonna be a long 13 years.

THE END

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